The Parent Trap - Tapa blanda

There are so many books where it's the combination of author and illustrator that makes you love them. In the case of The Flying Classroom and The Parent Trap... it's the combo of author, illustrator and translator. The bold line drawings by Walter Trier are the work of genius... As for the stories, if you're a fan of Emil and the Detectives, then you'll find these just as spirited -- Melanie McDonagh, 'Children's Books of the Year' Spectator The classic story... is famous as a film. Here, in this beautifully produced edition, Erich Kastner's original is incomparably more subtle and touching while still being very funny... A wonderful story brilliantly translated by Anthea Bell -- Julia Eccleshare, Books of the Year Lovereading4kids Walter Trier's deceptively innocent drawings are as classic as Kastner's words; I never tire of them -- Quentin Blake A treasure-trove of childhood reading Huffington Post Gorgeous Books Are My Bag (On both The Parent Trap and The Flying Classroom) I enjoyed every word of both, before reluctantly passing them onto my grandson. They explore childhood with wit and invention while spinning magical yarns interwoven with the erratic and bizarre actions of adults and the independent-mindedness of children -- Amanda Hopkinson PEN Atlas Books of the Year Warmly recommended Irish Times

'Walter Trier's deceptively innocent drawings are as classic as Kastner's words; I never tire of them' Quentin Blake Luise has ringlets. Lottie has braids. Apart from that they look exactly the same. But they are sure that they have never set eyes on each other in their lives. When the two girls meet at a summer camp and discover the secret behind their similarity, they decide to switch places. Everyone is fooled (apart from the dog) and, despite a few mistakes and misadventures, everything goes to plan for Luise as Lottie and Lottie as Luise - until their father meets a young, beautiful woman and things start to unravel... Funny, moving, affectionate and improbable, The Parent Trap has twice been adapted for film - but the book remains one of the great classics of German children's literature. Erich Kastner, writer, poet and journalist, was born in Dresden in 1899. His first children's book, Emil and the Detectives, was published in 1929 and has since sold millions of copies around the world and been translated into around 60 languages. After the Nazis took power in Germany, Kastner's books were burnt and he was excluded from the writers' guild. He won many awards, including the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1960. He died in 1974. Walter Trier was born in Prague in 1880. In 1910 he moved to Berlin, where he would later be introduced to Kastner, and began his career drawing cartoons for the Berliner Illustrated. He also contributed to the satirical weekly Simplicissimus, where during the 1920s, despite great personal risk, he ridiculed Hitler and the Nazi Party in a series of cartoons. In 1936 he fled to London, where he was involved in producing anti-Nazi leaflets and political propaganda drawings. He would go on to have a rich career, producing around 150 covers for the humorous magazine Lilliput. He died in 1951 in Ontario, Canada. Anthea Bell is an award-winning translator. Having studied English at Oxford University, she has had a long and successful career, translating works from French, German and Danish. She is best known for her translations of the much-loved Asterix books, Stefan Zweig and W.G. Sebald.